Coin Imaging and Pricing

cosmicdebris

My local dealer asked me if I could take pictures of coins, crop it all nice and print it on an 8 X 10 sheet of glossy photo paper.

What do you guys think this would be worth per coin?

Placid

Maybe $5 per coin.

nwcs

If this person lets you do it your way, I'd say a couple of bucks per coin. The price goes up with the more meddling they do or the more complex arrangements they want.

cosmicdebris

Let's add some steps here.

1: Pick up coin ( 10 minute ride )
2: Take 20 to 30 images and go through them to pick out the best ( 10 minutes )
3: Crop and rearrange image so both sides are on one sheet ( 10 minutes )
4: Add any text ( 5 miuntes )
5: Add cost of ink and paper
6: Drop off coins and image ( 10 minutes )

Total time 45 minutes

FC57Coins

Don't sell yourself short Bill. Your assessment is provided you can take good pics on the first try, that you don't have to do much editing to them. Take a trial run of the project and then see how much you feel it's worth.

DorkGirl

Well, I guess if it were me, I'd go time and materials. I think $25 to $30 an hour is fair, plus compensation for materials. That way, more than 1 coin would make more sense for both of you. You would already be set up, and no charge for the extra traveling time.

Barry

Getting an 8x10 printed from an online developer or store/kiosk is $4-5 per picture. For a quality pic, you'll need quality photo paper, a good printer, and good ink. Those aren't cheap. I'd say a minimum of $10/pic for a minimum of 10 pics. For just a couple pics, it wouldn't be worth doing to me.

dollardude

It depends on how many you want to do, and how frequently. If you only do a few every now and then, the price should be higher, perhaps $10 each. If you go into more of a "mass production" mode, perhaps $5 each is fair.

ksteelheader

$30 per hour and $5 per pic is what I'd charge....Ken

greghansen

My first reaction was the same as Placid's.....$5 a coin.

dollardude

IMO, you should never charge or be charged by the hour in business. Always charge by the job. This applies to anything in business, whether you have a house to paint or a widget to produce or whatever. Otherwise, you have the potential of getting into disagreements and arguments over how much time is reasonable to complete a job. You don't want to go there.

prooflike

have like a 10 coin minimum (doesn't sound worth the effort for five or ten bucks.)

mgoodm3

For the right material I would do it for free.

astrorat

I think there are a few folks out there who will shoot the photos and provide prints in the $5-10 range per photo (plus shipping). This, however, does not include an 8 x 10 inch print which, as you are likely aware, difficult to produce well and take a while to print on expensive paper.

Lane

P.S. Also factor in that you may be asked to reshoot some of the coins as per the individual's taste.

Russ

$5? $2? That's teenager wages.

Bill,

At your skill level, minimum $15 per coin and that's only if he gives you volume work.

Russ, NCNE

cladking

It really does depend a great deal on the volume of business he wants to do. Professional
photographers can make quite a bit of money and your ability to photograph coins appears
to be among the best. Certainly this kind of work can be done cheaply now days with high
quality printers and digital photography. The greatest value here is really quality more so
than cost.

NoGvmnt

Why don't you just subscribe to the barter system, he gets the pictures - you keep the coins.

Seriously though, how about credit toward something in inventory?

Jim

airplanenut

I'd charge a few dollars for the photo, and then tack a small profit on the cost of printing. If I knew what it cost to print, I'd know what I'd charge Without printing, I charge $5.50 for raw and $6.50 for slabbed.

Jeremy

cosmicdebris

Thanks for the input guys. I'll deffinately be charging per job/amount of coins.

JrGMan2004

Aethelred

Bill, I have seen enough of you photos to know that you are an artist and nothing less! I admire, and to be quite honest envy your skills very much. You deserve to be compensated very well for this and I hope you will not sell yourself short!

cosmicdebris

I showed him some shots of the 1830 bust half today. He offered $20 per coin imaged

jbsteven

<< <i>He offered $20 per coin imaged >>



Sounds like a good deal for you.

Crazy4Coins

I think a good option would be to charge based on the value of the coin. Higher the value of the coin, higher the fee.Rare,key and high demand quality coins should deserve a little more time on your part to maximize to coins marketing potential and there is obviously more profit potential in these coins.

Example:

up to $100.00 value = $20.00
$100.00 - $300.00 = $25.00
$300.00 - $500.00 = $30.00
and so on.....

As stated previously... "Don't sell yourself short"

This way your less likely to spend most of your time taking photos of modern coins and will soon find yourself specializing in the high end market.Which IMO is where you want to be.

Its better to be a high price leader than the low price follower. That is as long as you create value. People will pay for quality.

Randy

cosmicdebris

Randy I was thinking the same thing myself. Base it on the value of the coin. If this takes off somehow that is the direction I will head in. Maybe eventually offer something like NGC's Photo Proof without the grading.

Crazy4Coins

Exactly.. Don't forget to offer all the little extra services( for an additional charge of course)... Like quicker turn a round time, upgraded paper stock, or images on cd, something of that nature. If you offer it people will buy it.Those little extras add up quick and will improve your bottom line greatly.

Good Luck,
Randy